Italy's political parties fail to end stalemate. Persident Sergio Mattarella says forming a coalition government is a matter of urgency
Efforts to end Italy's political stalemate stalled on Friday after two days talks ended in failure to form a coalition government.
The anti-system 5-Star Movement emerged as the largest single party in the March 4 vote but no one won an absolute majority. Italy's President Sergio Mattarella said reaching an accord is now a matter of urgency:
"Our citizen`s' expectations, the struggle on the world markets, upcoming events within the European Union, the upscaling of international tension in areas not far from Italy require that there is urgently a positive engagement between the parties to reach this goal.
"I will wait a few days, and then I will evaluate how to proceed to break the deadlock," the head of state told reporters.
The 5-Star movement is willing to work with the far-right League, but is refusing to link-up with its ally, the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. A senior official said he expected the president to make a move late next week if no accord is reached.
Berlusconi unexpectedly addressed reporters at the end of the meeting to accuse 5-Star of "ignoring the basics of democracy".